Rhaan Velik was smart enough to know that he wasn’t the smartest guy around. He was a businessman and intelligent enough to know what a good investment was, but technological advances were always somewhat lost on him.

Lucky for him, the market had attracted several highly skilled individuals that would volunteer – or be volunteered – to assist him. He walked across the halls of the freighter that hosted the event, assaying the displayed wares here and there, and observing his surroundings. That was, until he spotted someone.

Nesta was walking casually among the stalls in the market. She stopped at every other stall taking time to pick up and observe a few items before casually saying hello to the stall keeper and moving on to the next one. This is what she did. This is what she was good at. She wanted to know every little detail of everything that occurred within the market and she would make sure that she did.

She approached a small stall with handmade necklaces made from some material that she couldn’t quite place. The woman working the stall gave her a small smile and continued on sorting through her inventory. Nesta took a small necklace and begin twirling it through her fingers while she scanned the crowd for anyone interesting that might stand out. It only took her a few seconds before she made eye contact with a Reman man just across from her. He was staring right back at her. She took the necessary latinum out of her pocket and gave it to the lady to pay for the necklace and began walking straight toward him. She had never seen this man before and she was to intrigued to walk away.

Rhann’s face remained impassive as the young woman approached, but he observed every movement, every oh so small micro expression on her features. He was skilled at finding easy targets for a number of things that had the concept of exploitation at their core. Means to an end. Some were merely gullible and in younger years – and the start of his career – they had served him with their connections or wealth.
Now, he was long past those things, and concentrated on who was useful to him.

The woman, her physique and demeanor, was something he had witnessed countless of times in the naïve and protected environments that federation worlds often offered, and it surprised him to see an individual like that at this fourteenth Ratchela Market, where criminals of all organizations belonging to the Syndicate – and some outside it – auctioned off the most dangerously cutting-edge wares retrieved from unsuspecting vessels or badly guarded space stations.

“The necklace. Why did you choose it?”, he asked with mild curiosity, once more eyeing her up and down. He had little interest in jewelry and vanity items, but considering the place they were at, there might be more to it than initially evident.

Nesta was a little surprised by the question. Of all of the questions to ask first, that isn’t one that Nesta would think was of importance. She found this extremely interesting. She stepped a little closer and held the necklace up in her hand. It appeared to be the color of silver and had a chain of several inches. When she held it up at eye level, the light shone through the circular encasing and cast a shadow across the floor. The inside of the encasing was a nebula with all of the colors. It was a remarkable replica. She turned it toward him so that he too could see the beautiful light display brought on by moving the necklace in the light.

“I couldn’t come here without purchasing something,” Nesta said as she circled the encasing under her thumb. “I’ve been trying to decide for several hours what that would be and then I spotted this beauty. I guess one could say that it brought back memories for me. The craftsmanship is one of the best I’ve seen and I’ve traveled and seen quite a lot. I reckon that  fact along with the fact that it reminds me of my home was the reason I just had to have it.” Nesta continued.

Nesta unclasped the piece of jewelry in the back and looked back at the man. She wasn’t sure what to expect here in this conversation but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to look away or head anywhere else. She plastered the biggest and best smile had on and started to turn away from the man.

“Do you mind? I could use some help.” Nesta stated as she looked back over her shoulder and held the necklace up for it to be clasped around her neck.

For a good long while, Rhaan didn’t move. It was beneath someone of his status to be “helping” with something as base as this, but eventually, he decided to comply. He stepped closer, and for a moment he tightened the necklace just enough for it to be uncomfortable. Then he released it, closing the clasp at the desired position.

He also found he was none the wiser as to what this woman was doing here, and found his interest waning.

“It looks pleasant on you.”, he said with a nod. “But I must be on my way. Much to do. Such a big market.”

Nesta cursed herself under her breath. She couldn’t believe she let herself get this distracted. This was completely out of character for her. What was it about this man and this place that got under her skin? It’s not like this type of place was new to her. She earned her living infiltrating places like this and finding out information to help her brothers with their schemes and cons. They most certainly would not be happy if she returned to the spaceship with her if she left with zero information.

She turned around and smiled at the man. “Thank you for your help as I know that was a bit of an odd request. Sorry for holding you up for so long,” Nesta said to the Reman. She reached her hand out as a courtesy, “I didn’t quite catch your name and I figured it was rude to occupy your time for this long and not do you a courtesy of at least knowing mine.” she spoke with more confidence. She wasn’t sure what had unsettled her but she wouldn’t allow that to sway her any longer.

He started at her hand. Human greeting, he thought to himself, internally sneering in disdain at the thought. The Human species had infested vast parts of the galaxy, and their customs swapping over to others wasn’t out of the ordinary. Still, he couldn’t say that he liked it, and thus, he refrained from returning the gesture and instead gave a nod.

After a short pause that lasted about only a second, Nesta pulled her hand back in and nodded back with a big smile. She hadn’t expected him to return the hand shake she offered. Just like asking for help with the necklace, she was attempting to get a reading on this Reman. Based on his reactions, she was certain now that he was important and her brothers would want to know about him. She knew that he wasn’t going to give his name and she’d have to be okay with that.

“It’s a pleasure.”, he said eventually. He was, by now, all but settled on the idea that this woman didn’t belong here. He would have one of his guards watch her. He also took note of how she had, in fact, not introduced herself.

“The pleasure was all mine. Thank you for speaking with me. Enjoy the rest of your time at the market!” Nesta replied as she walked away. Her brothers wouldn’t be happy with her but then again this had been happening more and more often recently. Had she lost her touch? She didn’t think so but she had this nagging feeling that something had changed within her and she needed to figure whatever it was out quickly and get back to normal. If she didn’t, her brothers would probably kill her.

Nesta walked for a few minutes not bothering to stop anymore. Why bother? She occasionally glanced behind her to see if anyone was paying any special attention to her or following her. She didn’t expect to see any of her brothers so quickly but when she rounded the corner and looked up, she was staring straight into the eyes of her oldest brother, Jogah.

Guess I should just get this over with Nesta thought to herself and then began striding toward her brother.